What it means to help others as a Christian

Part of the nature of being a Christian and living a life in accord to God's will is to serve others and help them in their times of need; others being defined as everyone in our daily lives and the world around us that we have the ability and resources to serve. Before one can effectively set about helping others, one must understand the nature of helping some one so as to fulfill our duty as Christians.

It is essential to have a good working definition of the concept of help, the word help as used in the situation, and to have a uniform agreement within our Christian fellowship of the defining concept of help and how we understand the word. The reason it's so vital to our ability to serve is because without a uniform and guiding definition the Christian fellowship and people are vulnerable to attack in their lives. The vulnerability lies in an attacker (someone causing harm in order to gain something of value, i.e. fraud, robbery, etc.) using our eagerness, our drive to help as a way to entice us into a situation where we will be harmed. With a strong working definition of the concept of help and how we can apply it to discern whether or not a person needs our help can go a long way in keeping us out of harms way and make it more difficult for others to manipulate us using our desire to serve as a weapon agaisnt us.

Let's start with the concept of help and it's applications to our duties to others. The word help is defined as follows : "help:
–verb (used with object)
1.to give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a task or satisfy a need; contribute strength or means to; render assistance to; cooperate effectively with; aid; assist: He planned to help me with my work. Let me help you with those packages.
2.to save; rescue; succor: Help me, I'm falling!
3.to make easier or less difficult; contribute to; facilitate: The exercise of restraint is certain to help the achievement of peace.
4.to be useful or profitable to: Her quick mind helped her career.
5.to refrain from; avoid (usually prec. by can or cannot): He can't help doing it.
6.to relieve or break the uniformity of: Small patches of bright color can help an otherwise dull interior.
7.to relieve (someone) in need, sickness, pain, or distress.
8.to remedy, stop, or prevent: Nothing will help my headache.
9.to serve food to at table (usually fol. by to): Help her to salad.
10.to serve or wait on (a customer), as in a store.
–verb (used without object)
11.to give aid; be of service or advantage: Every little bit helps.
–noun
12.the act of helping; aid or assistance; relief or succor.
13.a person or thing that helps: She certainly is a help in an emergency.
14.a hired helper; employee.
15.a body of such helpers.
16.a domestic servant or a farm laborer.
17.means of remedying, stopping, or preventing: The thing is done, and there is no help for it now.
18.Older Use. helping (def. 2).
–interjection
19.(used as an exclamation to call for assistance or to attract attention.)
—Verb phrase
20.help out, to assist in an effort; be of aid to: Her relatives helped out when she became ill.
—Idioms
21.cannot/can'thelp but, to be unable to refrain from or avoid; be obliged to: Still, you can't help but admire her.
22.help oneself to,
a.to serve oneself; take a portion of: Help yourself to the cake.
b.to take or use without asking permission; appropriate: They helped themselves to the farmer's apples. Help yourself to any of the books we're giving away.
23.so help me, (used as a mild form of the oath “so help me God”) I am speaking the truth; on my honor: That's exactly what happened, so help me. Use help in a Sentence
See images of help
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Origin:
bef. 900; ME helpen, OE helpan; c. G helfen

—Related forms
help·a·ble, adjective
un·der·help, noun
un·help·a·ble, adjective
un·helped, adjective
well-helped, adjective


—Synonyms
1. encourage, befriend; support, second, uphold, back, abet. Help, aid, assist, succor agree in the idea of furnishing another with something needed, esp. when the need comes at a particular time. Help implies furnishing anything that furthers one's efforts or relieves one's wants or necessities. Aid and assist, somewhat more formal, imply esp. a furthering or seconding of another's efforts. Aid implies a more active helping; assist implies less need and less help. To succor, still more formal and literary, is to give timely help and relief in difficulty or distress: Succor him in his hour of need. 3. further, promote, foster. 6. ameliorate. 7. alleviate, cure, heal. 12. support, backing.


—Antonyms
3, 11. hinder. 7. afflict. 13. hindrance.


—Usage note
21. Help but, in sentences like She's so clever you can't help but admire her, has been condemned by some as the ungrammatical version of cannot help admiring her, but the idiom is common in all kinds of speech and writing and can only be characterized as standard." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/help -- retrieved 6/6/2010)

When a person needs help and askso for our help, we, and they, are using the word help as a noun. How a person is asking for help and using the word is solely determined by their attitude and perception of the meaning of the word help. How we respond is determined by our own attitude and perception of the meaning of the word help, and very often one doesn't stop to consider what the asker means when they ask for help but function on our own understanding of the word.

It is important to know the attitude and subjective perception of the persons we, as Christians, are attempting to help in order to decide if we are able to provide what they need/want within the context of our own beliefs. If a person using their petition for help as a way to get free labor to achieve their goals, then it is vital we understand this before we commit to helping since it is entirely possible that such a persons goals can be against the principles and values we hold to be good and true in our service to others. If a person needs help feeding their family, we may rush to relieve their distress and once their immediate need is met we then move on to other areas in our lives. But, if we do not take time to consider the goals and circumstances of the individual in need, then we cannot form a complete understanding of how to best serve them in their time of need.

Take, for example, if in the above situation the person cannot feed their family because they have lost their job and cannot find another to support themlseves and their family. We must endevour to understand the entire context of their need. Why can they not find another job, is it because of lack of necessary skills and education? Is there any source of income to this family, and if so is it sufficient to meet their basic needs of food, water, shelter, and security? If so, then why is this person unable to meet their needs? Is it because of lack of skills in managing finances and a household or some other reason? I'm not suggesting we delay in meeting the immediate need for aid and succor to feed the hungry family, but to follow up with additional ways to serve if the root of the problem can be addressed and remedied to prevent that family from ever going hungry again.

Sadly, it is possible in the realm of experience, that in such a case the person can then divorce themselves from a relationship with the Church once their immediate needs are addressed and not want any further assistance. Whether that attitude stems from any rational reasoning is irrelevant because our ability to help is entirely dependent on the person being helped's willingness to accept our help. At that point it is up to the special ministers within the Church to try and develop a relationship with that family and seek to encourage them to see the value of a relationship with the church that can provide education and services to better their lives.

It may be the case a person is using the Church's willingness and call to help others as a resource to accomplish things in their lives that would otherwise be more difficult or expensive to accomplish on their own. Their motive may be profit or convenience, rather than need. It is often the case that the Church rejects such a petition for help out of hand because the need is not outside of the reach of the person asking for help if they work towards their goal on their own. However, I feel this is short sighted in the scope of the Church's mission. In this case, it takes much more effort and discernment on the part of the Church to investigate the situation and ensure the nature of the request doesn't contradict the Church mission, doesn't take limited resources away from others who need help based on distress, and has the potential for an equitable exchange of value in the relationship of those we will help. If providing free labor establishes a good working relationship with an organization or individual who shares our values and doesn't act in such a way to hinder the mission and goals of the church, then there is a definite exchange of value in the relationship. It is through our work and relationship we may reach those we help with our gospel of Christ and if such persons have been willing to accept something of value from the Church they will be more open to other things of value the Church has to offer, which includes the gospel.

On the negative aspect of these situations, there is a possible time where the Church refuses the appeal for help from a person. If such a person is using the willingness of the Church to serve as a means to an end that causes harm to themselves or others (harm to Christians is defined as going against the will of God) there can be significant backlash in anger, slanderous accusations, and negative spin on the story told within the community regarding the interaction between the church and the persons involved. There could even be negative impact from helping a person who contradicts the values and mission of the Church.

It is important to understand the impact of public opinion to the ability to function within the community in serving the church mission. To ignore the reality of perception and subjective opinion in the persons we are trying to reach is to ignore a potential barrier and obstacle in communication and establishing relationships. We can do no good work outside of the church if no one wants to work with us because of their negative perceptions of the church formed by hearsay and gossip that was allowed to go unadressed and unchecked.

The reason I find this topic important to share is because even during times where I was deeply involved as laity in the church, and participating in fellowship, I would hear stories of people in need going unhelped by the church but never heard an official reason from the church leadership regarding why the church decided to deny help or not get involved in the situation. In the congregation there was speculation and people formed their own opinions on the matter, whether those opinions were positive or negative they still formed them and it effected their participation within the fellowship.

It is important to understand the nature of the word help, how the concept of help is applied from a Christian perspective, how to discern the attitude and needs of persons that we help, and how to effectively communicate our reasons for the actions we take in providing help and service.